Adopting an Attitude of Gratitude
Life is often tough and we have those days that we just don’t want to keep going sometimes. Gratitude can help you improve your mood and outlook. Make a list of at least 5 thing that you are grateful for everyday. Bonus: Don’t repeat yourself. You will become creative and find the small things in your life that you genuinely are thankful for. The list below is adapted from Christy Wright.
11 Benefits of Being Grateful
- Gratitude improves your relationships– Everyone has a need and desire to be appreciated. We all want to be seen and appreciated. When you express gratitude you improve the quality of your relationship with them. Be aware of the kindness you receive in your own home and express gratitude.
- Thankfulness creates contentment– We get 3000-5000 media messages a day telling us what we don’t have and who we are not. It helps you be open and accepting of what you already have. Try to stop thought patterns that start with “I wish…” or “If only…” Contentment turns what you have into enough.
- Thankfulness feels good– Turn your heart and mind toward gratitude. It is something you can choose everyday of the year. It creates the warm fuzzy feelings.
- Thankfulness reduces stress– If we can’t have what we want when we want it, it is frustrating. We can increase our patience and decrease our stress by turning toward what we have.
- Thankfulness cultivates humility– Typical arrogance and ungratefulness go hand in hand. The opposite is true. When you are humble, you’re also grateful. We become more humble people simply because we choose to be thankful.
- Being grateful produces joy– you choose to be grateful and as a result you find joy. It was on your to choose gratitude first; not wait for your life to change to be grateful.
- It makes you nicer– Gratitude makes you a nicer and kinder person. When you are grateful you are happy and joyful. Naturally, you will be a nicer person.
- Thankfulness is contagious– Just like fear and worry is contagious, so is gratitude. You can spread gratitude by leading by example. When we are inspired by other people’s gratitude, we are more grateful. This produces more positivity and we are more likely to spread that to others.
- Thankfulness produces positivity– The byproduct of gratitude is happiness. Choosing to be naturally thankful helps you see the good in your life, family, day, and world.
- Thankfulness promotes generosity– It is tough to be a giver when you are focused on what you have. However, when you open your hand and extend that to others it creates positivity. It helps you see the good in your life and an openness to other’s lives.
- Thankfulness increases likeability– When you use gratitude people like you more. You become a more attractive likeable person because people want to be around positivity.
If you’re stuck in a rut and having a hard time increasing your gratitude, give therapy a try. It can help get you past the hump of struggling to look at the positive side. Go ahead, get started now.
